Hey all,
I have this same post in another forum so I will copy and past since I haven't found an answer yet.

Having some serious difficulties using the HEQ5 Pro mount at the moment, I have a synscan handset v3. I also have the skywatcher 120ed.

I started using my scope again and it's suddenly turning me away from it again, I dont know if I have an issue or there is something wrong with the mount. However when I try to do a 2 star allignment, I select the star of Hadar. Very bright star far up in the sky, then it proceeds to give me stars that are below my FOV or ones that are not very bright and hard to distinguish. But I can get that done.

I just want to run through my steps with my HEQ5 Pro setup.

Very frustrated with aligning Southern Hemisphere. These is my lat and long. Find me, I don't mind. Just if you visit don't be a murderer please.
Latitude
-34.167514
Longitude
142.07

1. Setup tripod - Face the tripod with the N towards true south and make sure it's level

2. Sit HEQ5 head ontop and tighten it up place scope and weight and proceed to balance the scope

3. I've set my latitude axis to "34" see above image to where I am. I don't think I can set it to -34 so I assume it'd be this.

4. (tricky part) Place scope in home position I haven't found many things on where the home position is for the southern hemisphere
Very frustrated with aligning Southern Hemisphere-20170811_211652.jpg I assume this is it, scope pointed south weight down bottom.

5. I turn on my scope and put in my thingys in:
Very frustrated with aligning Southern Hemisphere-untitled-3.jpg and set my elevation to +62m
142° 07'E
34°16' S
I enter correct date and time format +10gmt and daylight savings set to off

6. Then proceed to do a 2 star align. First star select points the scope no where near the star (same area roughly) 2nd star to align also puts the scope no where near the star. I align that as well.

7. Time to test, tell the scope to find Jupiter zoom goes straight passed it. I use the "re-center" button by holding esc to center Jupiter and try to find it again goes back to the original place.

I'm really stumped people. I got my scope outside at the moment and no idea what I am doing wrong. Please advise me. Either the mount is silly or I am silly, probably the latter.

I even do a 1 star alignment and it's still doesn't work.

I recently updated my handset to the latest firmware, wondering if there is any settings I need to set on it.

From your location you need the point your mount approx 11degrees east of magnetic south.

In the setup menu there's a alignment stars option, you can change how they're filtered and that might make it easier. I just have it on alphabetical and use a star map app to find appropriate stars and you can just skip through the list to see if they're there during your alignment.

After you've done your star align, open up the polar align menu. Centre it on an easy star and follow the directions. It'll move the mount and you'll have to move it back to the centre of your eyepiece/screen using your adjustment knobs.

This part might not be nescessary but I've been told it works so... after the polar align routine. Use the menu to park the scope and power down the mount. Then you can turn it back on enter your time/location do you two star align and you should be good to go.

Oh and another thing, if all of that works and you get good goto accuracy. Park the scope again, line up both of the measuring rings with 0 degrees (can't remember what their proper name is)and mark the position on your mount with a felt pen or something so you always know where to set the mount before you start.

From your location you need the point your mount approx 11degrees east of magnetic south.

In the setup menu there's a alignment stars option, you can change how they're filtered and that might make it easier. I just have it on alphabetical and use a star map app to find appropriate stars and you can just skip through the list to see if they're there during your alignment.

After you've done your star align, open up the polar align menu. Centre it on an easy star and follow the directions. It'll move the mount and you'll have to move it back to the centre of your eyepiece/screen using your adjustment knobs.

This part might not be nescessary but I've been told it works so... after the polar align routine. Use the menu to park the scope and power down the mount. Then you can turn it back on enter your time/location do you two star align and you should be good to go.

Hope this helps.

Hey Tim, cheers for the quick reply.
I've got it pointed as close as possible for true south, I've calculated for the difference between magnetic and true south. I've also already had set the alphabetical order of the stars in the catalog while aligning.

I have tried manually moving it back to home after I aligned the scope and it made no difference, the alignment was SUPER far off the mark.

I cant seem to get good goto accuracy that's the problem, it really doesn't like me T_T

Ok, I should be out observing tonight, but it is a bit cloudy and I'm settled with a bottle of red instead.

1. Polar alignment is not that important - so forget about that as long as you are pointing somewhere near, that will get the initial slew roughly in the area, which you have reported. My polar alignment is around 1/2 degree off the pole and still the 1st and 2nd stars are about 2 - 3 degrees off when it slews to them. This can be a result of your "home" position, which is dec 90 and RA at the pole - you seem to have that correct.
2. Make sure your time is within say 10 seconds of true EST, and remember Month/day/year
3. Always select rate 4 or 5 to slew the align stars to the centre of the field - finder first and then an eyepiece around 100x. The longer you take to slew the stars, the worse your alignment will be, and I am talking about the time spent with the buttons pressed, not the overall time. So what I am saying is that you will be doing well if they are in the field of the finder initially.
4. Set align select by magnitude - otherwise you will get stars you have never heard of (and I have been doing this for over 50 years)
5. If you do not get good pointing, then try a 3 star align - some scopes can have substantial cone error. In the field of a 100 power eyepiece is "good pointing" in my view.

Ok, I should be out observing tonight, but it is a bit cloudy and I'm settled with a bottle of red instead.

1. Polar alignment is not that important - so forget about that as long as you are pointing somewhere near, that will get the initial slew roughly in the area, which you have reported. My polar alignment is around 1/2 degree off the pole and still the 1st and 2nd stars are about 2 - 3 degrees off when it slews to them. This can be a result of your "home" position, which is dec 90 and RA at the pole - you seem to have that correct.
2. Make sure your time is within say 10 seconds of true EST, and remember Month/day/year
3. Always select rate 4 or 5 to slew the align stars to the centre of the field - finder first and then an eyepiece around 100x. The longer you take to slew the stars, the worse your alignment will be, and I am talking about the time spent with the buttons pressed, not the overall time. So what I am saying is that you will be doing well if they are in the field of the finder initially.
4. Set align select by magnitude - otherwise you will get stars you have never heard of (and I have been doing this for over 50 years)
5. If you do not get good pointing, then try a 3 star align - some scopes can have substantial cone error. In the field of a 100 power eyepiece is "good pointing" in my view.

good luck

I always have to use the slew rate of upwards to 7*-9* only because it's SO far off the first and second star it'd take minutes to get the star center and only seconds if I chose 9* speed. I cant even get it into the finder on the initial select of the star.

I'll try selecting it to by magnitude see what happens there, and I'll try setting it to home by pressing home next time.

I can get the message "Successful alignment" then I ask it to slew to Jupiter and it points the scope no where near the planet. :\

I was gonna take mine out too, but like you said it's very cloudy, Good luck with your red!

Usually doing a 2 star alignment I get the first star (I usually pick Hadar) in the spotting scope FOV and use the direction buttons to centre it, then the 2nd star (I have the list set to Order by Magnitude, and pick Antares say) and the star is better aligned but nowhere near central.

The message "Successful Alignment" means nothing - it just confirms you have completed the process by pressing "Enter" after centralising the star. The mount has no idea whether you have done this correctly or not.

I've not had mine long either and I had similar issues, (including not knowing I could change the rate of slew !) I usually use 6-8 for the 1st star, speed 9 is way too noisy ! and then 2 or 3 to centralise.

Still have issues with Park, sometimes it parks nowhere near "scope up, weights down" as it should (now that I'm back home and set up in the same place every time I'll investigate that more)

Once last time out it kept telling me my 2nd star was more than 45 degrees or something (I think it may have been over the Meridian or something) - in the end I powered the mount down and restarted it which fixed it - the old "have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again?"

It def takes a bit of practice and a read of the manual for the hand controller a couple of times.

What are you using for a power supply?
I've seen my scope do the same thing when the power supply get a tiny connection disruption. It resets how far it has come and the goto is consequently way off.
If you're using a mains power supply, consider upgrading it or getting a decent battery supply.
The alignment shouldn't be consistently off unless there's a basic error which we haven't picked yet.

What are you using for a power supply?
I've seen my scope do the same thing when the power supply get a tiny connection disruption. It resets how far it has come and the goto is consequently way off.
If you're using a mains power supply, consider upgrading it or getting a decent battery supply.
The alignment shouldn't be consistently off unless there's a basic error which we haven't picked yet.

Just adding to what Jen said, you'll see the power light blink on and off (and spend gradually more time off) if voltage is becoming too low. The mount is also more likely to lose sync due to low power when both axes are slewing full rate.

Just a small addition to the low mount voltage trap. I fell into this recently when I "stole" an extra amp of power from my mount 12volt input lead.
This caused the mount lamp to blink when it was slewing and interfered with my "go to". The HEQ5 mount needs 11-15volts at 2 amps minimum. I needed an extra amp for my new heater. The problem was solved by installing a heavier duty 3 metre power lead to the mount/heater from the 12volt/5 amp power supply.
Peter

Looking at your pictures, I would just like to point out that 34.167514° is not 34° 16', and 142.07° is not 142° 7'.

34.167514° = 34° 10' 3.0504"
142.07° = 142° 4' 12"

Oops!! that might be my mistake! though I can't enter seconds into the handcontroller, I will try those coords, tho it doesn't seem too far off where my original ones were, but I will try! Cheers mate!

And as for the power supply I'm using the mains power supply with about 10m of extension cord. The power supply plugs into the extension cord. and then there is a box with a 12V power outlet which is connected to the mount. I included a picture of the stats of the power box. Maybe I should check if the light flashes when I move the scope. Never even thought this problem would exist, cheers!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zuts

Hi,

Maybe this does not apply to EQ mounts, but on my AZEQ6 in AZ mode if I put my scope in 'back the front' it cant find anything and slews are always way off.

Maybe try putting the scope the other way around...

Cheers
Paul

I don't think it applies to the mount, from all the videos I've watched anyway, I will test it out tho. maybe I'm doing it the wrong way!

Just a thought and maybe not relevant to your problem but getting the right magnetic deviation adjustment when setting up your mount can be a bit confusing. As you probably know, and according to an app. I found on the Internet, your magnetic deviation in Merbein is 9º 14' East. This means that when you use a magnetic compass and point it towards the South true South is to the left of the South indicated by the compass. My apologies if you already have this covered, but if you inadvertently worked on the basis that true South was to the right of the South indicated by the compass your cumulative error would be 18º 28'. If you use a compass that has a magnetic deviation bezel, you would set it so that the compass' fore-aft marking line is set just to the right of the 350º mark (i.e. at about 351º) on the bezel. The attached images show what I mean by the fore-aft marking line and using the compass with your magnetic deviation set to 9º 14' East.